Commemoration of the victims in Livadice: We do not expect their justice, but God’s justice is always there

A memorial service was held at the Church of St. Petka and at the grave of Mirjana Dragovic in Laplje Selo for the 12 Serbs killed 25 years ago in the terrorist attack on a “Nis Express” bus in Livadice. No one has been held accountable for this crime.

In the attack on 16 February 2001, 12 Serbs were killed and 43 others wounded as they were traveling by bus, under KFOR escort, to Gracanica to attend memorial services for the deceased.

The memorial service at the Church of St. Petka, led by Father Bojan Kristic, was attended by the families of the victims, friends, and local officials.

Jelena Stojanovic, sister of the slain Mirjana, said that 25 years after the crime she now wakes up, for the first time, with fear that there will be fewer and fewer Serbs in Kosovo and that pressures against them will intensify, stressing that ever less space is being left for the Serbian people to live in Kosovo.

“With time I have not become speechless, but somehow everything that is said feels unnecessary. We do not live in any illusion — neither as a family nor, it seems to me, as Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija — that anything here will change. I do not believe in their conscience, nor that any responsibility will be assumed so that they will find those guilty for all our victims or bring justice. But for these 25 years we have lived with the hope that there will always be people here who will mention them, who will light a candle for their souls, that in this Church of St. Petka memorial services will be held for them, because that is all we evidently have left. We believe in divine justice, but not in theirs,” Stojanovic said, adding that she fears there may come a time when no one will be left to light a candle and hold a memorial for the victims.

“I do not expect their justice, but God’s justice is always there,” she added.

Gordana Djoric, who survived the attack in Livadice, spoke through tears, saying she feels the same as she did in 2001.

“I thought that time would make some things fade, that they would blur, but unfortunately, even after 25 years, it is enough just to close my eyes and the images of that day are clear. Perhaps it would have been easier if I had been unconscious from my injuries and not seen all the evil I witnessed that day, but unfortunately I was conscious and saw the entire tragedy. I cannot understand that someone could be such great evil as to plant that explosive and kill 12 innocent people. The images are still very vivid, and it is very hard to speak about it, no matter how much time passes,” Djoric said.

What is particularly difficult, she stressed, is that no one has been held accountable for the crime in Livadice.

“Given the tragedies we see happening and the fact that no one is held responsible, we can only hope that God’s punishment will reach them — we have nothing else. But at the same time, we must not forget; we must continue to speak about it. I am grateful that a memorial service is organized every year, that we remind everyone that such things must never happen again, that innocent people must not suffer, that we should turn toward life and learn to love and respect one another. Unfortunately, that has little impact on those who make decisions,” Djoric said.

Ratko Popovic, President of the Cultural and Educational Association of Kosovo and Metohija and a writer, stated that 16 February 25 years ago brought silence to Kosovo.

“A heavy silence, a sense of despair. A terrorist act was committed against people who had set out to pay tribute to their own — to visit their cemeteries, to honor their dead, and to return home, to share together the fate and misfortune that has accompanied the Serbian people here,” Popovic said.

He recalled that each year at the memorial service justice is sought for the victims.

“But evil is powerful, and those global power brokers do not understand the pain of ordinary people. They shattered the joy here in Kosovo and Metohija — and we all rejoice in life, in freedom, in everything that makes a human being human. Yet humanity is evidently absent in that global order, among people who have neither soul nor shame, who know that for us the greatest honor is these funeral rites and memorials, and that here we pay tribute to the victims upon whom they vented their anger, arrogance, and brutality,” he said.

Wreaths were laid at the grave of Mirjana Dragovic by the President of the Municipality of Gracanica, Novak Zivic, and the President of the Provisional Authority of the City of Pristina, Dejan Miladinovic, together with associates.

In the attack on 16 February 2001, 12 Serbs were killed and 43 others wounded as they traveled by bus, under KFOR escort, to memorial services in Gracanica.

No one has been finally convicted for the Livadice attack. The only suspect, Florim Ejupi, was acquitted by the Supreme Court, although he had been sentenced in the first instance to 40 years in prison.

EULEX officially closed the Livadice investigation in 2013.

Those who lost their lives in the Livadice explosion were Zivana Tokic, Slobodan and Nenad Stojanovic, Suncica Pejcic, Mirjana Dragovic, Milinko Kragovic, Veljko Stakic, Dragan Vukotic, Lazar Milkic, Nebojsa, SneZana, and Danilo Cokic.